The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method.
In recent years, security measures are required to be taken for information devices. For example, a user authentication system is introduced to an image processing apparatus such as a printer, a copier, and a multifunction peripheral. In this user authentication system, a user name (or a group name) and a password are registered in advance, and when the user inputs a user name and the like via an operation panel, a user authentication is performed in which the input user name and the like are compared with the registered data.
However, in such a user authentication system, the user needs to perform a user authentication procedure such as inputting characters of a user name (or a group name) and a password, before using a function of the image processing apparatus such as a copy function or a facsimile transmission function. This procedure extremely reduces the user's convenience. In addition, another problem of such a system is that the security cannot be maintained if account information is revealed to others, wherein the account information is a combination of a user name (or a group name) and a password.
In a typical image forming system, a personal authentication is performed by an authentication control portion, not by an operation panel means, by using an authentication signal from an external authentication device. In addition, according to another typical print system, a face image authentication is performed on an image that has been photographed by a photographing device, and a predetermined file is printed based on the result of the face image authentication.